Novel Nanowire Fabrication Technique Paves Way for Next Generation Spintronics

The challenge of fabricating nanowires directly on silicon substrates for the creation of the next generation of electronics has finally been solved by...

New Material Will Make Locally Flexible Diodes Possible

Diodes allow directed flows of current. Without them, modern electronics would be inconceivable. Until now, they had to be made from two materials with different characteristics. A...

Graphene Boosts Flexible and Wearable Electronics Boosts

At 200 times stronger than steel, graphene has been hailed as a super material of the future since its discovery in 2004. The ultrathin carbon material is an incredibly strong...

Powering Light Electric Vehicles

Light Electric Vehicles (LEVs) such as golf carts have been traditionally powered by lead-acid batteries.

New Products

See the new products for December 2022, including power diodes, a battery management system, gelled tantalum capacitors, and more.

Silicon Forging Ahead for Higher-Performance Battery Anodes

General Motors’ new joint-research agreement with OneD underscores the promise of silicon-anode development.

Proposed Standards and Methods for Leak Testing Lithium-Ion Battery Packs

Battery packs, whether made of prismatic, cylindrical, or pouch cells, are cooled by common automotive thermal management systems.

Compiler Selection for Functional Safety in Robots

A developer needs confidence that the compiler will not introduce errors into the design.

On the Hunt for Asteroids: Positioning an Occultation Telescope

"Early detection of a NEO headed for Earth would give us sufficient time to deflect the threat."

Controlling a Robot Without Programming

Programming a robot for small series production activities with great diversity involves many trajectories, which is time-consuming.

Tentacle Robot Can Grasp Fragile Objects

Researchers designed a new type of soft robotic gripper that uses a collection of thin tentacles to entangle and ensnare objects.

Solar-Powered Smart Robots Walk Autonomously

A team has installed electronic “brains” on solar-powered robots that are 100 to 250 micrometers in size so that they can walk autonomously.

Teaching Robots the Craft of Manipulating Materials

The new system learns directly from visual inputs to let a robot with a two-fingered gripper see, simulate, and shape doughy objects.

New Products

The new products for December 2022, including a micro-sized servo drive, HVAC drives, the LogiDrive system, and more.

Best Practices to Optimize Motor Selection

Optimizing motor selection for motion control applications can have significant performance, cost, and maintenance benefits.

Enhancing Design Efficiency in Linear Motion Automation

The integrated measuring system (IMS) has demonstrated notable cost savings and improved design efficiencies in linear motion automation applications.

Fine-Tuning the Factory Using Simulation

One promising way to meet modern industrial challenges is by using additive manufacturing processes.

Five Tips for Optimizing 5G Private Network Signals

In the coming years, the wireless communications segment will expand significantly as 5G private networks launch.

AI Pilot Can Navigate Crowded Airspace

A team of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University believe they have developed the first AI pilot that enables autonomous aircraft to navigate a crowded airspace.

Vertiport Assessment and Mobility Operations System

It is widely believed that Advanced Air Mobility is poised to have a significant societal impact in the coming years to move people and cargo more rapidly and efficiently.

3D-Printed Catalysts Propel Hypersonic Flight

Ultra-efficient catalysts were developed that are cost-effective to make and simple to scale.

Solid Electrolyte–Based Microthrusters for Precision Propulsion

Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are developing a novel microthruster that could provide easy-to-control propulsion during spaceflight.

Spacecraft to Remove Orbital Debris

Innovators at NASA Johnson Space Center have designed an Active Debris Removal Vehicle that can remove large orbital debris from low-Earth orbit.

Chipset-Specific IPDs Simplify Development of Next-Gen Wireless Medical IoT Applications

The design goal is to provide exceptional RF signal range and stability, while also reducing power consumption, in a miniaturized package.

New Capabilities for Grasp-Assisting Gloves

NASA is developing the next generation of spacesuits for future missions.

AI that Mimics the Human Eye

Researchers at University of Central Florida have developed an artificial intelligence device that mimics the retina of the eye.

Robot Overcomes Uncertainty to Retrieve Buried Objects

A new robotic system fuses visual information and radio-frequency signals to efficiently find hidden items buried under a pile of objects.

3D-Printed Insect-Inspired Robots

Instead of adding soft materials to a rigid robot body, researchers have taken a soft body and added rigid features to key components.

Self-Healing Aluminum Metal Matrix Composite

NASA has developed a new metal matrix composite (MMC) that can repair itself from large fatigue cracks that occur during the service life of a structure.

Shape-Shifting Materials Offer Infinite Possibilities

Researchers have developed a shape-shifting material that can take and hold any possible shape.

Soft, Mechanical Metamaterials

Researchers produced a soft, mechanical metamaterial that can “think” about how forces are applied to it and respond via programmed reactions.

Automated RF Interference Mitigation System

Innovators from the NASA Glenn Research Center developed a software-based automated RFI mitigation system to increase communication reliability.

High-Bandwidth Communications Device

This device could pave the way to higher-bandwidth wireless communications.

Efficiently and Precisely Decoding Low Redundancy Codes

Digital data is subjected to errors when stored or transmitted due to the effects of noise on the medium or communication channel.

Energy-Saving Technique for Faster Communication Systems

Researchers have developed a technique that will allow for faster communication systems and better energy-saving electronics.

A Laser-Focused Approach to LiDAR

Traditional time-of-flight LiDAR has many drawbacks that make it difficult to use in many 3D vision applications.

Reflection-Reducing Imaging System for Machine Vision Applications

The imaging system tested in NASA wind tunnels can reduce or eliminate shadows that occur when using many existing BOS and photogrammetric measurement systems.

Assembly for Simplified Hi-Res Flow Visualization

The assembly can simply be mounted in front of a camera to enable focusing schlieren imaging capability.

How Virtual, Cloud-Based Technologies Are Powering the Next Industrial Revolution

Companies in many industries are completely revamping the way in which their manufacturing arms are designing, building, producing, and servicing their goods.

Nanomagnets Can Perform AI-Like Processing

The new method could slash the energy cost of AI.

Meta Monitoring System

MMS was developed as an add-on to NASA Ames-patented Inductive Monitoring System (IMS), which estimates deviation from normal system operations.

New on the Market

See the new products on the market, including power inductors, vibration sensors, a field TV connector, and more.

The Grainger College of Engineering

The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign was established in 1868.

Products of Tomorrow

This column presents technologies that have applications in commercial areas, possibly creating the products of tomorrow.

Product of the Month

The new IRB 1010 robot from ABB (Cary, NC) offers electronics manufacturers the opportunity to increase their production of small wearable devices.

Meeting the Challenge of Electric Vehicle Battery Cell Innovation

Today, batteries are the new engine for innovative electric vehicle (EV) development.

To-Go Cup Lids May Help Drones Sense Danger

The work showed that when a certain level of force inverts a dome, embedded sensors surrounding the dome can detect the change.

How Well Do You Know E-Skin?

How much do you know about e-skin? Find out with the quiz below.

5 Ws of Painless Tattoos

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed low-cost, painless, and bloodless tattoos that can be self-administered and have many applications.

Giant Batteries Deliver Renewable Energy When It’s Needed

In developing its flow battery, Oregon-based ESS drew from groundbreaking research and development conducted by NASA more than 40 years ago.

Self-Folding Origami Honeycombs Perfect for Protective Packaging

A research team has demonstrated a promising method to easily manufacture self-folding origami honeycomb structures.

10 Holiday Gift Ideas for Engineers

Gift giving always induces anxiety. It’s never easy to pick a present that someone will enjoy, especially if the recipient is an engineer.

How Much Do You Know About the Hyperloop?

Take this quiz to find out how much you know about the hyperloop - a system that moves people and goods safely and sustainably by bringing airplane speeds or even greater to the ground.

Leveraging Metal 3D Printing for Manufacturing in Space

One promising metal-based additive technology for in-space 3D printing is Ultrasonic Additive Manufacturing (UAM). Instead of fusing metal powders, UAM welds foil at (near) room temperature.

High-Speed Camera Captures Signals Traveling Through Nerve Cells

Combining high-speed camera and interferometer technology enables the detection of electrical pulses travelling through nerve cells.

Low-Cost, High-Energy Battery Could Change the Decarbonization Game

The battery was made using sodium-sulphur — a type of molten salt that can be processed from sea water at a low cost.

Small But Mighty: Stratospheric Microballooons

A zero-emission reusable stratospheric balloon developed by Urban Sky for remote sensing could one day be used for real-time wildfire monitoring.

Computational System Streamlines the Design of Fluidic Devices

Combustion engines, propellors, and hydraulic pumps are examples of fluidic devices — instruments that utilize fluids to perform certain functions, such as generating power or...

Hummingbird Flight Could Provide Insights for Biomimicry in Aerial Vehicles

Hummingbirds occupy a unique place in nature: They fly like insects but have the musculoskeletal system of birds. According to Bo Cheng, Associate Professor in...

A Low-Cost Robot Ready for Any Obstacle

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science and the University of California, Berkeley, have designed a robotic system that enables a low-cost and relatively small legged...

What Do You Know About Factory Automation?

Factories are becoming more and more automated and integrated. How much do you know about what factory automation actually is? Take this quiz to find out.

Electromagnetic-Wave-Absorbing 6G Tech

The epsilon iron oxide nanoparticles could be continuously produced through a micrometer-sized powder manufacturing process.

A Self-Healing Structural Composite

Jason Patrick, assistant professor of civil, construction, and environmental engineering at North Carolina State University, and his team have developed a new composite material for applications like airplane wings and wind turbine blades in which hidden defects and damage can self-heal.

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